it's been a while since the battle in shinjuku, and finally everyone had recovered from their injuries. most were getting ready for new missions, but your squad was focused on....breakfast.

shinoa has completely messed up breakfast, having not invited you to help her cook, claiming that she wanted to show everyone she could do if herself, but no one was really surprised when they walk into a smoking kitchen.

"uh-" you scratch the back of your neck as yuu and kimizuki rush to help shinoa in the kitchen, successfully putting out the fire in the pan. "i thought you said you could do it by yourself?"

shinoa turns to give you a glare, narrowing her eyes at you in warning. you laugh, ignoring the threat the was insinuating with her eyes.

"move." kimizuki instructs, pushing past shinoa and getting started on a new egg, after having to have thrown away shinoa's charred scraps.

you leave the rest of your friends in the kitchen, opting to wait at the table and out of kimizuki's way.

you were soon joined by the rest of the group, who brought in the eggs, fruit, and drinks for everyone. they join you at the table, and you know that it is inevitably time for a serious conversation.

the group eats in silence, no one intending to break the ice so soon when there's so much that needs to be discussed. though it seems that eventually yuu can't take it anymore, and he raises his voice, questioning the group about their secrecy.

"we have two things to talk about." shinoa announces, ignoring yuu's quizzical and honestly offended questions about why he seems to be the only one in the dark. you feel a little sorry for yuu, it sucks to be the only one left out of a secret, especially if it's serious.

yuu shuts up, snapping his mouth shut and paying full attention to shinoa who holds up a finger.

"one.. is that during the battle at shinjuku you went crazy and tried to kill me." she informs the boy, who's widen with shock, and unmistakable regret. "and two... is that we must decide together if we are to stick with the lieutenant colonel or not."

yuu looks confused now, tilting his head quizzically at the purple haired girl, who opens her mouth to explain.

"guren knows something about what happened to you on the battlefield, and we need to discuss wether or not we can or can't trust him." shinoa's voice was light, but it held an air of underlying seriousness that was difficult to disregard. everyone was silent for a moment, seemingly thinking of anything helpful to say.

"i think we all need time to think." you pipe up, earning everyone's attention, and you meet yuichiro's gaze, nodding at him slowly. "especially you, yuu. we all need to step back and find out for ourselves if our loyalties still lie with guren. then we can come to a conclusion as a team."

everyone seems to understand your words, and they nod, looking towards one another with equally agreeing expressions. all of you know that there's a lot of thinking to be done, and you need to prepare for some possibly difficult conversations later once you've all figured out your own answers.

"alright then, we all have lots to think about." shinoa reiterates, standing from her seat at the table. she looks at yuu, a hard look in her eye. "when we all speak again, i hope we can come to an agreement."

with that said, everyone else begins to rise from their seats. you take your time in leaving the room, each of you muttering farewells to one another as you go.

you hoped that the next time you all talk about this, everyone can come to a reasonable conclusion.

———————

during the time apart from your squad, which you had labeled the groups "reflection time", you trained, working on strengthening your demons abilities. you were quite proud of your progress, and had successfully been able to harness most of shizuka's power.

you swing your axe around, twirling it in your grasp as you advanced towards nothing, imagining your enemy before you. you would be more ready than ever the next time you came to face to face with a fang. your confidence in your abilities had grown just as exponentially as your strength, and that went for both physical and mental fortitude.

your self pride came to an all time high as you finished up your daily drills, sealing your weapon away into its coin form. you sigh, a little bit of anxiety nipping at your brain as you remember you need to go meet your comrades. today is the day you would finally come to an agreement with them.

you don't particularly care either way, so long as the decision is right for the team. you want to believe that guren isn't all that bad. that perhaps he had only followed instruction that day, and was not previously aware of the severity and destructiveness of yuichiro's "curse". you felt your stomach drop. you know that that's not the case. not after you had seen his expression when he saw yuu transforming, becoming something other than human. the lieutenant colonel had been elated.

you take a deep, calming breath breath, and start on your way to meet your comrades.

———————

when you open the door to your teams new meeting space, you notice everyone is already seated at the table, looking at you expectantly.

"you're late." shinoa comments, but you can tell she's not really upset. you know that if anything, she's relieved to know see that everyone showed up. no one had decided to abandon the group all together.

"training can be pretty time consuming, babe." you tease, throwing her a wink and dropping into the seat beside your closest friend, who offers you a smile.

everyone glanced around at one another, but yuu is the first to break the silence that's fallen over the five of you.

"i have decided i'm going to stick with guren." he says, cutting to the chase immediately. you tilt your head, waiting for an elaboration. "family. that's what he's called our team from the beginning. y/n, kimizuki, yoichi, and shinoa, you're my new brothers and sisters. i really believe that. you're all important to me, but i can't forget about mika either. he's also an important member of my family."

you give the boy a sympathetic smile, continuing to listen to him speak as he goes on. everyone is all ears, listening intently to yuu's speech.

"my family abandoned me, so i never really learned how families are supposed to work. but, i'm pretty sure you don't turn your back on your brother just because he kept a secret from you. guren said he'd help me get mika back and complete my family. i'm going to trust his word" yuu lowers his head, his eyes downcast as he finishes his rambling. "i know i have no right to get you all involved in personal issues like this. if you want me to leave-"

"i've heard enough." kimizuki's stern voice cuts through yuu's, and he stands, towering above everyone seated at the wooden table. he moves to stand by yuu, clapping a hand on his shoulder. yuu gasps. "you were right when you said you can't turn your back on family, agreed?" he turns to the rest of the group, an encouraging smile pulling at his lips.

everyone nods eagerly, shouting their agreement across the table. you sigh, happiness and contentment allowing your shoulders to finally feel light again. you were so glad that coming to a conclusion had been so easy.

shinoa stands, raising her teacup to lightly tap the side with her spoon, creating a high pitched noise which echoes throughout the room.

"well, it sounds like we've reached a conclusion." she beams, looking around at each member of her squads faces. "we defend our family. in this messed up world most people are too busy trying to survive that they forget to look out for each other." she places her teacup and spoon back onto the surface of the table, raising a finger to add to her point. "but shinoa's squad is different. you can probably thank my strong leadership." she grins, tapping a finger against her chin.

you laugh at her antics, nodding in agreement with her words. "that must be it." you say sarcastically, earning a chuckle from the rest of the group. you let out yet another sigh. this is how the group is supposed to be.

kimizuki drops a hand onto the top of yuu's head. "now, if we could just do something about our teammates hair."